Artificial bait



Dec, 1 8, [1923. 31,477,864-

G. W. BOLTON ARTIFICIAL BAIT Filed Nov. 29. 1920 iIn ucnloz gaor ga 20; flamm/ UNITED STATES GEORGE W. BOLTON, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ARTIFICIAL BAIT.

Application filed November 29, 1920. Serial No. 426,962.

7 '0 all whom it may concern: he believes suitable to the weather, stream Be it known that I, Gnoncn V. Bowen, and fish and thus fit out the plug bait so a citizen of the United States of America, that it may be used to entice and possibly residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne catch a certain species of fish. At the will and State of Michigan, have invented cerof the fisherman the plug bait can be easily 5 tain new and useful Improvements in' Artiand quickly changed for another species of ficial Bait, of which the following is a specifish or to try another color, and this is acfication, reference being had therein to the complished without the use of tools or accompanying drawings. much labor, and further with no loss of time My invention aims to provide an artificial in untangling one bait from the other as bait or lure having interchangeable Inemwell as from other articles in the bai'. box

bers permitting of the appearance of the or boat.

bait being changed so that it may be used I The construction entering into my artiin different localities as a lure for difi'erent ficial bait will be hereinafter described in species of fish. connection with the drawing, wherein It is a well known fact that difi'erent Figure 1 is a side elevation of the artikinds of water and weather, or bright and ficial bait, partly broken away and partly cloudy days, often necessitate using difi'erin section;

ent bait on account of visibility, and that Fig. 2 is a plan of the same;

20 a lure which may be attractive to onei'species Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are views in side elevaof fish is not attractive to another. To tion of interchangeable members for the meet these different requirements the market bait, and is flooded with lures of various kinds in Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of order that a fisherman may satisfy his esa modified form of bait plug.

3 thetic taste, and in order for a fisherman In the drawing, the reference numeral 1 to be well equipped for certain waters a denotes a bait body or plug which tapers great variety of baitsmust be included in inwardly from its middle portion to its exthe tackle. tremities so that the plug will have, more A well known form of bait, to-which this or less, a minnow or torpedo shape an invention has special'reference, includes a with smooth walls that may be finished to so plug having a plurality of gang hooks with imitate or represent the small fish. v the plug: finished to represent a minnow, At one. end of the head of the plug 1 and very often of a shape which will cause' is. an eye-or swivel 2 which permits of a line the plug .to wobble or imitate swimming beingconnected thereto, and at the opposite as when drawn through the water. Such abait or tail end of the plug is'a connection 3 for to be properly carried in a tackle requires a conventional form of gang hook. 4.

space, therefore a fishermans outfit. is more The bottom or belly of the plug has two or less limited to. a few of the baits. Furor more gang hooks 5 with the connection thermore, if these baits are not vkept en- '6 thereof entering the plug, and the conea tirely separate they become entangled-and nections of some of the gang hooks may so it is no easy' job to separate them. This terminate at artificial eyes 7 for the plug. requires time and besides it is almost imlhe top'or back of the plug has adjoin possible to untangle them without seriously. ing seats 8 and 9 for a detachable member pricking the hands if not imbedding the 10 and said member has its outer wall flush ea hooks therein. I or substantially so with the walls of the My invention aimsto provide interchangeplug 1 so as to be a continuation thereof able backer belly or head members for a and present an appearance as though inplug bait with each member of a difierent tegral with the plug. The seat 9 is flat color or finish from the other members, so and extends from the tail of the plug to a that a fisherman may select a member which point contiguous to. the head of the plug ice where the forward end of the seat meets the seat 8 which is disposed at an obtuse or right angle to the fiat seat 9 and constitutes an end wall or abutment for the large end of the member 10. The member 10 is finished with faces corresponding to the seats 8 and 9 so as to have a snug and even fitting with said seats with no part of the member 10 xtendin vertically through the middle portion of t e plug 1, and screwed into said portion is a screw bolt 11 which is threaded its full length, with its upper end protruding above the seat 9 to extend through an opening 12 in the member 10 and into a recess 13 in the top or back of said member, said recess being of a shape to provide clearance for a knurled nut 14 and fingers employed for screwing or unscrewing the nut on the end of the screw bolt. With the recess 13 providing clearance for the nut 14 said nut is practically countersunk in the wall of the member 10 and presents no obstruction that might interfere with weeds or the striking of the bait by a fish.

It is through the medium of the screw bolt 11 and the nut 14, particularly the latter that the member 10 may be removed or replaced quickly and while the screw bolt and nut will clamp the member 10 on its seats lateral displacement of the member 10 is prevented by the seat 8 and by one of the connections 6 or a special bolt protruding above the seat 9 into a socket or notch 15 provided therefor in the fiat face of the member 10. This is best brought out in Fig. 1 where it will 'be noted that it is practically impossible for the member 10 to become accidentally displaced.

As shown in Fig. 2 the member 10 has the appearance of being integral with the plug and practically the only distinction between the member and plug is that of color, although the member 10 may be the same color as the plug and be lower than the head.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5, there are members 10 of different colors and either of these members may be easily and quickly mounted on the plug 1 to change the general exterior appearance thereof. It is in this manner that a fisherman may trim or fit out the plug to meet the requirements, as a bait, for a certain species of fish, and with a multi licity of interchangeable members of di erent finishes it is possible for a fisherman to convert the plu into a desired bait, at a very small additional cost where otherwise he would have to buy a whole new bait in each instance.

In Fig. 6' of the drawing, I show a detachable member 18 having socket members 19 to receive fastener members 20 of a bait plug 21, the fastener members and socket being constructed somewhat similar to ordinary glove fasteners so that the de rot-ruding from the walls of the plug.

tachable member 18 may be easily and quickl snapped into engagement with the bait p ug. This form of fastener will obviate the necessity of using a screw bolt and nut, particularly the latter, since it is liable to be lost.

Ordinarily the bait plugsl and 21 are made of wood and the members 10 and 18 may be made of similar material, but in some instances the members 10 and 18 may be made of celluloid, metal, molded materlal, or any material which may be readily finished to provide a desired exterior appearance. Then again, instead of making the interchangeable members a part of the top or back of the plug, it is obvious that the plu may be constructed to accommodate a etachable member on its side, head, body or belly, and in order that the bait plugs may be different in weight so as to increase or decrease the buoyancy of the plug I may provide a bait plug with a recess 16 for weights 17, which may be readily placed in the recess 16 when the member 10 is removed therefrom. It is therefore possible to weight a bait plug for deep water fishing or remove the weights so that it may be used for surface fishing.

Again considering the interchangeable members, it will be noted that these members have no hooks to become entangled and pierce the fingers; that a great variety of the interchangeable members may be made of special shapes or colors, to represent bugs, frogs and fish with colors having a luminous effect and shapes producing a wobbling effect as the bait is drawn through the water; and that a fastening means may be employedfor attaching the interchangeable members to the bait plug which will not interfere with detachment of the members due to the freezing of water.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have devised a bait plug, which on account of its simplicity, can be manufactured so cheap that a fisherman may buy several bait plugs at the cost of one of the present ordinary plugs. While in the drawing there are illustrated the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that the structural elements may be varied or changed without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. In an artificial bait casting plu adapted to serve as a lure for species of sh, said plug having permanent hooks and vertical and horizontal seats in its upper rear portion which seats are formed by removing approximately a quarter section of the plug, a plurality of interchangeable members similar to the quarter section of the plug and either of which may be placed in engagement with the plug seats without disturbing the hooks to impart an appearance ewes e to the plug more suitable as a bait for one is countersunk in the member attached to species of fish than another, and quick dethe plug and is finger operated.

tachable means adapted to hold either of In testimony whereof I aflix my signature said members on the seats of said plug so in presence of two witnesses.

that said members may be hurriedly GEORGE W. BOLTON.

Witnesses:

changed.

2. A bait casting plug as called for in ANNA M. Donn,

KARL H. BUTLER.

claim 1, wherein said quick detachable means 

